Pearlman spoke to First Take’sJay Crawford earlier today, and admitted that on a scale of one to 10, he’d rate his college basketball knowledge a 2. And indeed, from the sound of it, he didn’t keep picking VCU because of anything in particular he liked about VCU – it was because he likes picking USC.

USC, if you’ll remember, faced VCU in a glorified play-in game before the start of the tournament proper. (ESPN’s contest only covers games for the “real,” post-play-in, 64-team tournament – selections could be made both before and after the play-in games had been completed.)

Therefore, Pearlman’s wisest decision was to stick with his USC pick, even after their early loss meant it wasn’t a USC pick anymore. And he really went all-in on it: his bracket has VCU going all the way. At this point, there’s absolutely no reason to doubt that possibility. Video below, via ESPN2.